Spending time learning the business helped CIO Jim Fowler open eyes to a little-known Nationwide API platform and dive deeper into emerging technology such as virtual reality and AI.

Insurance companies are walking the tightrope between modernizing back-office systems and creating digital tools that create frictionless experiences for agents and customers alike, as Jim Fowler learned when he joined Nationwide as CIO in 2018.

The early sleuthing also revealed a hidden gem in the form of a developer platform Nationwide engineers had created for making APIs available to third parties. “They had this great platform, but nobody had talked to the commercial team,” Fowler recalls.

Recognizing the potential that platforms hold for generating revenue, Fowler opened a dialogue between his IT department and business development teams to launch the platform into the market.